No human beings
are illegal

In your article “Illegals among us” [Front, June 2], Stephan Reichhold, referring to so-called illegal immigrants in Canada, states: “We certainly aren’t confronted with the problem in our day-to-day lives.” As individuals active with refugee and immigrant rights struggles in Montreal, we find Mr. Reichhold’s comments completely untenable.

Thousands of migrants in Montreal experience the anxiety of living without status, forced to live in poverty, without sufficient access to basic services like health care or education and in great fear of being detained or deported, all the while being the most exploited in the workplace. This sizeable portion of the population—many of whom we are in contact with via the Solidarity Across Borders network—make up the social, economic and cultural fabric of Montreal, and without them, we would all suffer a great loss.

Because there are so many people living without status in Canada, self-organized refugee groups and their allies are organizing a historic one-week walk from Montreal to Ottawa from June 18 to 25. We will be asking for an end to detentions and deportation, the abolition of (in)security certificates and the regularization of all non-status migrants.

We are walking in rejection of the idea that there are “illegal” human beings, rather than unjust laws and illegitimate governments. Our “No One Is Illegal March On Ottawa” will be an important step in making visible the reality of non-status peoples in Canada and in putting pressure on Immigration Minister Joe Volpe to introduce a comprehensive and inclusive regularization program.

We ask all Montrealers to join us as a tangible gesture of solidarity with our non-status neighbours, friends and co-workers. We begin on Saturday, June 18 at noon at Cabot Park at Atwater metro. Hope to see you there.

» Sarita Ahooja, Patrick Cadorette, Tatiana Gomez, Aaron Lakoff, Seth Porcello, Leila Pourtavaf & Jaggi Singh, members of Solidarity Across Borders-Montreal

GMO producers vs.
the food chain

Thanks for the humorous photo in The Front of June 2 [Photo of the Week]. The photo was entitled “Anti-GMO (genetically-modified organisms) Jamboree,” and should have emphasized not only healthy living through organic eating, but also countered the claims of GMO proponents who claim that their products are safe and healthy. The promoters assume that there are only two species of life on earth: us and them.

Hybridization, the early introductions to GMO, produced successes and failures. Unfortunately, the failures are still going strong. Those “vine-ripened,” perfectly shaped tomatoes are pest-free specimens of texture, but lousy on taste. Little wonder then that the pests don’t care for ’em either!

Our once-delicious strawberries are now perfect in shape and color, with a taste akin to tap-water. Only through the purchase and nurturing of “heirloom” seeds and seedlings can one still enjoy good tomatoes and strawberries.

Some hybrids remain successful; to wit, the mule, the California navel orange and several other fruits and vegetables. But GMOs, which are force-fed a different gene sequence, are always “successful,” i.e. they’re cheap, taste okay, are supposedly safe and healthy and are pest-free—but herein lurks the spectre: their safety has not withstood the test of time, and more notably, they’ve defeated the pests, but also beneficial insects and crawlers.

“Us and them” is evident in those abominable “fish farms” where the salmon’s gene sequence is altered so that they lose the drive for sex and hence don’t expend much of their energy swimming upstream to spawn. They then become docile and fat—much to the producer’s and consumer’s delight.

And what of those predatory bears who feed on the spawning fish? Why worry? They can go elsewhere; again, there’s only us and them.

GMO products should exist in sympathy with the world’s food chain. All these ready answers by the promoters must be halted to allow questions—many questions.

» Edward Abramic

Q cares?

While I share Gabriel Morency’s appreciation for Triumph’s inspiring body of work, I must take issue with his impassioned plea for a return of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League to Montreal [“Waiting for the Q,” Sports Rage, June 2].

The fact is, the Q might be a big draw in places like Rimouski, Moncton and Lewiston, but Montreal is simply too big, has too long a tradition of winning and is too damn busy to suddenly develop an interest in a bunch of teenage hockey players, no matter how talented.

Montrealers aren’t dying without the NHL, but we aren’t willing to invest our money or emotional capital to watch kids—the majority of whom we won’t ever see or care about again—play competitive hockey.

» James Longfellow

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